When the blogger Sarah Matheny posted this recipe, Thai Zucchini Impasta Salad, on her blog, Peas and Thank You, last week, I wanted to make it right away. With 5 servings of vegetables per serving topped in a delicious peanut butter-based sauce, it is an amazing way to fill up on an assortment of colorful, summer vegetables.

If you use a spiralizer, which I don’t have, you can get small zucchini strips that have a similar texture to pasta. I don’t have a spiralizer, so I sliced the zucchini into very small strips. It was a little time intensive, and I didn’t get them all small enough, but it was still very good. My only potential problem with this recipe is that it is pretty high in fat. I think I could play around with the sauce so that it is still tasty but is less fattening.

If you’ve ever been to a potluck with us, or seen us after a road trip, you know that a bean salad is one of our staples. For some reason, I haven’t featured it on the blog. However, I’ve recently discovered lentil salad as an alternative. The reason these are important staples is: (1) they are high in protein and fiber so they are super filling and therefore reliable when we may be stuck in an environment without many vegan options; and (2) it is easy to make from non-perishables you have on hand.

The lentil salad is modified from a recipe in the April/May 2012 issue of Vegetarian Times.

Ingredients:

2 cups green or black lentils, rinsed

2-4 tablespoons oil (you can use more to make this for other people, such at a party)

4-5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or more, to taste

3-4 tablespoons honey, more or less to taste (again, I use up to 4 when I make this for other people, such as at a party)

4 bay leaves

4 or more chopped carrots (half or quartered moons) – optional

2 scallions/green onions, chopped

walnuts

dried cranberries

approx 1/2 jar roasted red peppers, sliced and chopped (you could also use dried and reconstituted or fresh and diced peppers. Roasted is best, and you can get those in a jar)

Steps:

1. Cook the lentils with the bay leaves following instructions on the package, or, cover with about 3 inches of water, boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes total, but after about 25 minutes…

2. … throw in the carrots, if using. Finish cooking for the remaining 5 minutes. Drain out any extra water and remove the bay leaves.

Have I mentioned I love asparagus season? There’s only about a month left, so we’ve been eating it every week. I found a recipe in my latest issue of Vegetarian Times that I modified and put into a salad.

To prepare, chop up the asparagus into 1 inch pieces.

Slice the garlic and green parts of green onions or spring onions.

I also had some dried sweet red pepper lying around that I accidentally bought, so I decided to throw that in the mix. I soaked it in water for 10 minutes to reconstitute, then through it in the saute with the onions, garlic and a bit of oil.

(Because I’m putting this in a salad with salad dressing, I didn’t add any spices here.)

Then add the asparagus and cook until soft but crisp. Remove from heat, and add fresh mint leaves and almonds, if you have them.

I love Tempeh. People in Asia – particularly Indonesia – have been eating tempeh for hundreds of years. It comes from soybeans mixed with another grain like barley or rice and is super high in protein. You can make it at home, but I probably never will, so we buy it packaged:

There are many different ways to cook and prepare tempeh. One night this week, Matt grated two packages of tempeh using a hand grater and put it in a spaghetti sauce. Here it is grated (aka “ground”) and sautéing with garlic and onion:

This was a dish that Matt put together on his known, so I can’t link to a recipe because it is in his head. But some of the other ingredients in the sauce were: